by Alisha Rai
“Yes, ma’am.”
“What do we say?”
“Just because Google was founded by two Stanford Ph.D.s doesn’t mean we hand out money to every Stanford Ph. Dick, Tom, and Harry that walks in our door,” Carol intoned.
Akash adjusted his glasses. “Of course, I wasn’t suggesting that.”
“I read an article that the 3-D printing company this start-up uses to make their purses shut down under some shady circumstances. They’re having severe issues sourcing the product.” Katrina read a lot of articles. Sometimes the information came in handy, and sometimes it was useless. She was happy this was a handy time. “It’s not worth the risk as it stands right now.”
“I missed that article.” Akash nodded, once. “I won’t bring it up again. I’m so sorry.”
“Please don’t be sorry. I’m fine with you arguing with me. Carol and I have had some epic arguments over the years, haven’t we, Carol?”
The lines around Carol’s light blue eyes crinkled. “Epic.”
“Sometimes she’s in the right, sometimes I am. I want you to feel free to air your opinions.”
Akash perked up. “Yes, ma’am.”
Click, click, click. That stupid pen again.
She gritted her teeth, then remembered her employees could see her. “Why don’t we pick this up later?”
“Sure.”
“No problem.”
“Is there anything else urgent you wanted to talk to me about?” She held her breath. She’d been holding her breath for the past hour, waiting for one of them to bring up CafeBae, but they hadn’t and they didn’t now.
She supposed there were still some people in the world who didn’t know she was trending. Or, they were too polite and kind and in love with their jobs.
She signed off, and turned to Jas with a determined smile. “Jas?” she asked sweetly.
He stopped mid-click on the pen. “Yes?”
“Do you have anything to do? Outside the house, perhaps?”
“Well I do have to take Doodle to the vet, but . . .”
Oh, wait, no. She didn’t hate the clicking so much she would sacrifice her pup. What if the vet knew who Doodle belonged to?
However, Doodle needed to be looked over by the doc to make sure she was okay. Katrina wanted to be a responsible dog owner. “Okay. That’s fine.”
“Now?” Jas looked at the dog sitting at her feet, one big paw covering her foot.
Best to get this potentially hurtful thing over with. “No time like the present.” She set her laptop aside and leaned forward. “Who wants to go for a car ride? Is it you, my sweet darling?” Doodle thumped her tail, but didn’t rise. She’d really taken to being a spoiled pet.
“I’d have to leave you alone.”
She stared at him, puzzled. “I’m home alone all the time back home.”
“No. That’s different. Gerald is around, and Jia and Rhiannon sometimes, plus the guards.”
“Well, what do you call the people in the car parked behind those trees?” She cocked her head. “You’re not my babysitter, Jas. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“I didn’t say you needed a babysitter.”
“There’s cameras all around the place. Alarms. Guards. I’m fine.”
“You could have a panic attack while you’re here alone.”
“So? I’ve had them before alone. I prefer to be alone, if I can’t be with someone I trust.” She raised a shoulder. “Take the dog to the vet. I will be absolutely fine.” And I will get all my work done, you beautiful distraction.
She rose to her feet and made a kissy noise at the dog. “Come on, Doodle. Come on. Let’s go to the car.”
Jas rose to his feet at the same time Doodle did, and Katrina hid her smile. Her coaxing tone was pretty good, she supposed.
JAS LEFT THE vet and wrapped the newly bought leash around his fist. “You’re not in the clear yet,” he told the dog. “You may not be chipped, but you heard the vet. There could still be someone looking for you.”
Doodle panted up at him. The black markings on her face made her look like a masked superhero.
He tugged on her leash, and she obediently followed. They’d settled into a grudging truce today. Doodle had easily gotten into the car. More important, she hadn’t ripped his throat out while he drove.
He hadn’t particularly wanted to bring her to the vet, and not only because it would leave Katrina alone, as he’d mentioned. He’d been tense, waiting for someone he’d grown up with to recognize him and stop him for an interminable amount of small talk. Small talk was the fifth horseman of the apocalypse.
He also hadn’t wanted to leave because he’d enjoyed the rare glimpse he’d gotten of Katrina at work. She was so smart.
He was about to open the door to the SUV when he glanced across the street and paused. His brother had had the same truck for years, his license plate held in a commemorative frame from his alma mater.
Jas checked his watch. Noon, so it made sense his brother would be grabbing lunch at the restaurant in the little strip mall. It was a staple in the small community, so he’d undoubtedly run into someone he knew.
If Bikram was there, he could deflect that fifth horseman. Jas spoke to Doodle. “If the same couple still owns that place, they’ll let you come in.” He kept his distance from dogs, but he knew keeping them in a locked car wasn’t a good idea.
The same couple did own it, the aunty at the register nodding and smiling at him when he walked in like he hadn’t been gone for almost two decades. Sure enough, she didn’t bat an eye at his dog. Jas inhaled deeply, the scent of curry and spices filling his nostrils. It took a second for his eyes to readjust to the darker indoor lighting, but then he caught sight of his brother sitting at a corner table in the not-so-crowded dining room.
Bikram did bat an eye at the dog that padded along at his side. “Holy shit, what is that, a hellhound?”
Jas looked down at Doodle, resisting the urge to cover her ears. The guys at the nearby tables gave the dog nervous looks. “She’s the dog I asked you about.” Jas sat in the chair across from his brother and brought Doodle in close to his leg. She barely fit under the table.
“She looked smaller in the pic. She likes you?”
Jas tried not to take offense at Bikram’s incredulous tone. He was not an animal whisperer. The opposite, in fact, if that was a thing. “She seems to tolerate me.”
“Weird.” Bikram tore off a piece of naan and dipped it in the saag on his plate.
The owner appeared at Jas’s elbow with a plate full of food. “Your hands looked full, so I got you a little of everything from the buffet,” she said in her quiet voice.
“Thank you, aunty.” He took the plate from her and placed it in front of him. He wasn’t hungry, but he figured he’d make an effort to eat with his brother.
“How have you been?” she asked.
He braced himself. “Well.”
“Good. Give my love to your mother.”
Okay, that had been a lot less painful than he’d thought it would be. Jas turned back to his brother. “Have you heard anything about Doodle?”
“Doodle, huh?” Bikram shrugged. “I’ve asked around. So far, none of our closest neighbors are missing a dog.”
Relief ran through him. It wasn’t definitive, but he’d like for Katrina to be able to keep Doodle. “Good.”
Bikram glanced under the table. “She looks pretty scrawny. Couple of people haven’t called me back yet, but she’s most likely a stray.”
“Probably.” He accepted the basket of naan Bikram passed across the table. “What are you up to today?”
“It’s slow. Figured I’d take advantage of that and run some errands I’ve been putting off since summer.”
Jas nodded. He hadn’t been here through a harvest season in a while, but he remembered how much work that was, how they’d all pitched in. Even his grandmother had been out in the orchard every year, grading the peaches to determine which ones were fit for sell
ing. “Smart.”
“How’s everything going at the little house?” Bikram indicated the dog with a wave. “Animal surprises aside.”
“Pretty good.” He hesitated, the worry niggling at the back of his mind. Bikram didn’t sound annoyed right this minute, but he knew his brother. If they didn’t resolve whatever was bugging him, it would crop up again and again. “I have a question for you.”
“Okay.”
“Are you resentful of Katrina because you think she’s the reason I don’t spend much time here?”
Bikram chewed his bite of food and maintained eye contact with him. He swallowed and spoke. “Duh.”
Jas squinted at him.
“I mean, I said as much, didn’t I?”
“It’s not Katrina’s fault I live down south.” He hesitated, unsure how to broach this particular uncomfortable subject. “If you’re upset about the farm, Bikram . . .”
“It’s not that.” Bikram’s nose flared. “You’re the heir. I get it.”
Jas leaned forward. “You know I don’t want it.”
Bikram’s smile was sardonic. “Doesn’t matter. You know Grandpa. Blood is thicker than water, blood above all.” He took a sip of water. “I’m not blood.”
“Bikram—”
“It’s not about the farm, and this isn’t about living a few hours away.”
“Then what is it about?”
“It’s about the fact that you barely know my fiancé. I’m marrying someone, Jas, and you haven’t shown the slightest bit of interest!” Bikram sat back and glared at him. “Now, I get that you’re busy with your job, but you didn’t even stay overnight at our engagement party. You had to run back that night, you said, because Katrina needed you. This is the longest I’ve seen you in years, and we live in the same damn state.”
Jas thought back to last month and the engagement party. No. That couldn’t be right, right?
Only that was what had happened. He’d attended the party, toasted the couple, and left about ten minutes after the first person had gone home.
He may have used work as his excuse. He didn’t remember now.
It was like Bikram had opened a spigot and couldn’t stop. His brother thumped his fist on the table, making the plates rattle. “You’ve barely met Hasan. He could be a serial killer.”
Jas drew back. “Is he a serial killer?”
“No! But you don’t know that! You should be vetting my boyfriend. You should be telling us we’re too young and haven’t known each other long enough. That’s what a big brother does.”
Jas took a bite of food, if only to have a moment to think while he chewed. “Ask me something.”
“What?”
“About Hasan.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean, what do you want to know about him? Where he went to grade school? His MCAT score? His parents’ favorite vacation spot?” Jas leaned forward. “This is my job. If you think I would ever let you marry someone without finding every crumb of information I could about them, you are mistaken.”
Bikram slowly nodded, and there was a sheen of tears in his eyes. “Why don’t you stick around when you visit? You always say it’s work. If it’s not, then why?”
Jas opened his mouth and then closed it again, his heart wrenching in his chest. He wasn’t sure what to say to that.
He wished Katrina were here. She was empathetic and adept at soothing hurt feelings, counseling people through roadblocks, and he was not.
They ate in silence for a few minutes, and then Jas looked up. “Maybe . . .” he said, and cleared his throat, though the hoarseness remained. “Maybe you and Hasan can come down some weekend and I can get to know him better.” He tried for a smile. “My search didn’t turn up any serial killer tendencies, but it doesn’t hurt to double-check.”
Bikram eyed him suspiciously. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. That would be nice.” And he meant that. “Also, actually, I do think you’re too young to get married.”
A smile spread across Bikram’s face, and just like that, his brother was back to his usual sunny self. “We don’t care what you think.”
“Well, I’ll—” Jas hesitated, trying to navigate this odd conversation. “I’ll tell you what I think anyway. You’re barely old enough to rent cars, the two of you—”
“Okay, that’s enough opinion-sharing for now.” But Bikram had a big grin on his face, and Jas returned it.
Bikram bumped his elbow. “This is the brother I know.”
Jas’s smile froze. No. He wasn’t.
“Something wrong?” Bikram asked.
“No.” He looked out the big tinted windows lining the front of the restaurant, toward the parking lot. “Can you do me a favor?”
Bikram looked wary. “What?”
Jas lowered his voice. “You remember that shotgun in the little house?”
“Above the mantel?”
He nodded. “I can’t have it there.”
“I doubt that firearm’s still functional.”
“It doesn’t matter. I can’t be around a gun.”
Bikram stilled. “Jas,” he said softly. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I don’t like the reminder. That’s all.” He could still hear McGuire’s gun going off that night, the pain and the blood, but above all the noise. It had been so loud.
Bikram blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. I was only eleven when the trial happened. Sometimes I forget, you know? What you must have gone through.”
Jas shifted. He hated that sympathetic look Bikram was giving him. He was fine. Other men and women had it much worse than him. Stuff those feelings back. Don’t think about them. “Actually, never mind.”
“No.” Bikram’s tone was brisk now. “What can I do? Do you want me to pick it up?”
His desire to be rid of the thing won out. “I put it in the trunk of my car. It’s wrapped in a blanket. Can you take it? It can go in Grandpa’s collection in the big house.” Their grandfather was obsessed with collecting pieces of family history.
Bikram reached across the table and grabbed Jas’s arm. It was only then that Jas realized he was rubbing his ear. He stopped.
“Give me your car keys,” Bikram said. “I’ll take care of it now. You stay here with the dog.”
He didn’t argue with his brother, he was too grateful to be rid of the thing. He handed over his keys and stayed put. As if she sensed his discomfort, Doodle shifted so she could put her head on his thigh. He rubbed the spot between her eyes until they started to close.
Jas signaled the owner for the check, and pulled out two twenties when she came over with a pad in her hand. Her eyes widened at the cash. “It’s fifteen ninety-eight.”
Oh right. The year might change, but the $7.99 buffet was a constant. He handed her the cash anyway. “Can you pack up some food for me? A nonveg entrée, a samosa, and whatever sweet you have.” Katrina was only cooking vegetarian food here because of him, and he didn’t want her to not eat what she liked.
Bikram came back inside as the aunty brought Jas his go-bag. His brother handed him his car keys and nodded at the bag. “What’s that? Bones for the hellhound?”
Doodle showed all her teeth, saliva dripping off them. The vet had given her a little much-needed teeth cleaning. Bikram took a step back.
“No. Food for Katrina.” He stiffened when his brother smirked. “She has to eat too.”
“Riiight.” His brother tilted his head at the door and sat back down. “Your trunk is empty.”
He swallowed. “Thank you.”
Bikram shrugged. “I’ll call you if I hear anything from the neighbors.”
It was a dismissal, but Jas took heart in the fact that it wasn’t a harsh one. Bikram and he might still have issues, but at least he’d aired his grievances.
When Jas got in the car, the vehicle felt lighter, like Bikram had removed a couple of tons of weight instead of one old shotgun. He was relieved now, that he’d asked for the favor.
Doodle poked her head out from the back seat and rested it on Jas’s shoulder. The reflection in the rearview mirror made him smile, and he carefully maneuvered his phone out of his pocket and took a selfie.
He sent it to Samson. I think Katrina found a new best friend here.
The response was immediate. Is that a wolf?!
No, a rottweiler mix. She’s very sweet.
Hang on, Dean and Harris will want to see her. Let me loop you into a group chat.
He thought about those words on the ride home, group chat, even while his phone lit up with message after message, from his new group chat.
The only group chat he was a member of was his immediate family’s. He liked being in another one. Being a part of a group.
Doodle clambered out of the car when they got home and raced inside. Jas followed more slowly, coming to a stop when he peeked into the living room and found Katrina fast asleep on the couch, her open laptop precariously resting on her chest.
She never napped during the day, as far as he knew. But then again, she probably hadn’t been sleeping much lately. She was going to be so annoyed when she woke up and discovered a nap had derailed whatever she’d planned for the afternoon.
He rescued the computer from toppling over with her next big breath and covered her with a blanket. Seemed like tucking her in was just his role in her life, and that was okay. Jas gestured to Doodle. “Stick close,” he whispered, though the dog was already on it, climbing up on the big couch to rest next to her.
He turned his attention to his new group chat as he left the room, his thumbs already composing his replies.
Chapter Fifteen
UGH, HOW COULD she have fallen asleep?
Katrina yawned and waited for Doodle to finish her business in the yard. She was so groggy, and if the dog hadn’t woken her up to go outside, she would have easily slept for another hour. Watching the Good Morning Live segment this morning must have really sapped her of her energy.
She staggered back into the house once Doodle was done and nearly yelped when she saw her face in the mirror. She tried to make some order of her hair and rubbed her cheek in a vain attempt to get the sleep creases out. She checked her watch. Almost two o’clock. “Jas?” she called out. He must be back. Doodle was back, after all, and with a cute new red collar and pretty white teeth.